1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus and an image capturing method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus and an image capturing method which is capable of performing fast focus adjustment for an object which enters a new image capturing region in case the image capturing region is varied.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic focusing function of a conventional image capturing apparatus measures a distance between the image capturing apparatus and an object at a distance measurement point in an image capturing region and performs focus adjustment on the basis of the measured distance. Recently, an image capturing apparatus measures successively distance between the image capturing apparatus and an object moving in an image capturing region, and thus, predicts a position of an object when an image of the object is captured and performs focus adjustment in advance (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laying Open No. 2003-222790).
However, the conventional automatic focusing function measures the distance between the image capturing apparatus and the object in the image capturing region and performs the focus adjustment on the basis of the measured distance. Thus, in case the image capturing region is varied such as case the direction of the image capturing apparatus is quite varied, a distance between the image capturing apparatus and an object after the image capturing region is varied and then the focus adjustment should be performed. Therefore, the focus adjustment cannot be properly performed just after the image capturing region is varied and thus the image captured just after the image capturing region is varied is rather dim. In other words, because the conventional automatic focusing function needs a predetermined time to perform the focus adjustment for an object which enters the image capturing region, in case a user changes fast the direction of the image capturing apparatus to capture an image of the object and an image of an object which enters into the image capturing region at high speed is captured, it is impossible to make the focus adjustment follow up the object fast and perform the focus adjustment properly to capture an image of the object.